Hydrothermolysis of triacylglycerides-containing oils such as those derived from crops, animal fats or waste vegetable and animal-derived oils involves many types of chemical reactions. As one example, some prior art processes catalytically hydrotreat C10 to C18 triacylglyceride containing oils, converting the unsaturated aliphatic chains in the triacylglyceride containing oils to straight chain paraffins while simultaneously deoxygenating/decarboxylating the acid and glyceryl groups to form water, carbon dioxide and propane. Two downstream processes are then required to (a) skeletally isomerize the n-paraffins to isoparaffins to produce specification grade diesel fuels, and (b) hydrocracking the diesel range n-paraffins and isoparaffins to hydrocarbons to produce specification grade jet fuels.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,691,159, for example, discloses a hydrothermolysis process to convert triacylglycerides to smaller organic acids in the presence of hot compressed water at supercritical water conditions. During the process, the backbone of the triacylglycerides undergoes rearrangement reactions.